Rezzed 2015: Unbox

first impressions by Nathan Toper at 7:55am on Tuesday 31st March 2015

One of the best things about going to game expos is getting the chance to play something you've not previously heard of. Unbox in one of these games; an interesting multiplayer experience that puts a spin on typical game modes.

In Unbox you play as a cardboard box trying to best your opponents. I played through several game modes; race, deathmatch and one in which you had to collect the highest number of golden tape. Your box can roll around the map, jump a good distance and 'unbox'. This gives you a boosted jump that decreases the size of your box, Russian doll-style. The number of times you can do this is limited (collecting a certain power-up will refill your counter) but you can use it multiple times in a single jump. This gives greater movement and is necessary in some of the races.

Maps are littered with power-ups and weapons; my favourite being balloons. With a successful hit a group of balloons attach themselves to an opponent and lives them up an amount; reminiscent of the film 'Up'. A caption announcing 'player 1 is doing their best Up impression' even appears on screen. There is a nice sense of humour in the game.

The race mode I played was a straight line to the finish but with many obstacles along the way. Playing against three opponents led to some competition and it was good to attempt hitting them with the weapons while avoiding ones sent your way. 'Unboxing' is the best way to avoid a locked-on missile though it does slow you down some as you're sent in the air.

While the concept is undoubtedly silly, the modes I played were coherent and amusing. Impressive too, as the game hasn't been in development for very long. The developers said that they plan to release a build on IndieDB soon and I'm looking forward to playing it some more.